As more children survive cancer, doctors are shifting the focus from simply defeating the disease to protecting growth, fertility, heart health, learning and emotional well-being for decades to come. Read more: https://www.firstpost.com/health/childhood-cancer-why-surviving-the-disease-is-only-the-beginning-14045619.html

Scientists have found that certain chemotherapy drugs can age children’s healthy cells, causing the same amount of DNA damage in a short period that would normally accumulate over decades in middle-aged adults. Read more: https://www.insideprecisionmedicine.com/topics/oncology/childhood-chemotherapy-leaves-lasting-dna-damage-in-healthy-tissues/

Survival rates for childhood cancer now exceed 80%—but this also means more children are living with the long-term emotional and psychosocial impacts of cancer. Read more: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-children-cancer.html

But five-year survival answers only one question: whether a child lived through the immediate threat of cancer. It says much less about what happens at 25, 40, or 60—decades after the last dose of chemotherapy, a biologic, or the final radiation treatment. That question, largely invisible in headline survival statistics, is the subject of one of the longest-running and most influential research efforts in childhood cancer: the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study (CCSS). Read more

Survivors of pediatric cancers are at higher risk of getting age-related conditions, like heart disease and secondary cancers, at younger-than-average ages. Whether their immune systems also age more rapidly — and how this may contribute to the early onset of age-associated conditions — is an open question. Read more: https://www.fredhutch.org/en/news/center-news/2026/09/dhodapkar-immune-aging-survivorship-R01.html

Adult childhood cancer survivors treated with anthracyclines have elevated cardiometabolic risk, emphasizing the need for structured cardiac follow-up. Read more: https://www.oncologynurseadvisor.com/news/anthracyclines-cardiometabolic-risk-childhood-cancer-survivors-treatment/

Adult survivors of Hodgkin lymphoma had nearly twice the mortality of the general United States population, according to a population-based retrospective cohort study of 20,057 long-term survivors. Read more: https://www.emjreviews.com/en-us/amj/hematology/news/hodgkin-lymphoma-survivors-face-higher-long-term-mortality/

Survivors of childhood cancer face many of the same emotional challenges as their peers, but they also carry worries that are unique to survivorship. Many know they are at a higher risk of developing chronic conditions earlier in life than other young people, and that awareness can become a lasting source of stress. Read more: https://www.stjude.org/research/progress/2026/emotional-health-supports-physical-health-in-survivors-of-childhood-cancer.html

A new, high-quality study reveals that the cardioprotective drug dexrazoxane significantly reduces the heart damage caused by chemotherapy received by pediatric cancer patients 15 years or more after treatment ends. Read more: https://news.ufl.edu/2026/08/chemotherapy-heart-protecting-drug/

Adult childhood cancer survivors (CCS) of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) frequently report mental distress, fatigue and executive function (EF) impairment, according to a study published online in Current Oncology. Read more: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-mental-distress-fatigue-common-childhood.html